Clothing line

[Moneymaka]

Hello, i've been thinking about starting a clothing line.
My aunt has been designing and making clothes for a store for a few years now. I've told her i could help her start making a business, even though i have no idea where to start.

I've read a lot of tutorials on starting your own clothing line, but they are usually directed to people who plan to send the designed clothes to a clothing manufacturer. I do not need this.

All the clothes will be hand-made by my aunt. This will make the clothes more expensive, while the start-up expenses will fall. However there are a lot of downsides for this method.

Would making a website and making the clothes after a order has been made be a good idea?

So any ideas on how to start doing this? Any other advice you can give me for the clothing industry?

[Senyth]

Hello,

When you say that your aunt will be making the clothes do you mean that your aunt has a workforce making clothes or is she the only person making the clothes. If she's the only person making the clothes than I will say that this business model could potentially be problematic. I would ask myself these questions:

If you open a website and you get 100 orders a week how fast can she complete this order and ship them? How about 1,000 orders or 10,000?

Basically my point is that you have to have a plan B when it comes to creating the actual clothing item. A lot of the times business owners plan for worse case scenario and are just hoping for one sale and they forget about the "success scenario". If you open your website you might get one sale, but what if you get 10,000 a week would the fact that your website\clothing line is successful be the downfall of your business?

Good luck!

[diknox00]

If you were to grow rapidly you certainly want to plan for that. I would say having your Aunt put together prototypes would probably be best. At that point, you could possibly outsource the making of the clothers to any number of chinese manufacturers. I once flirted with the idea...my supplier was willing to go as low as $7-$10 per pair of pants. Usually there are minimum of runs...each supplier will probably be different. But establishing a relationship with your suppler could better enable you to operate as a boutique retailer-whereas you only have so much available of each item you sell.

[Moneymaka]

She's the only person making the clothes.

I am well aware that the orders might increase too fast and i'm still trying to figure that out. I was hoping the sales would go up slowly, which then we could hire some other people once the orders per week exceed some kind of limit. But hoping isn't enough, so anyone who knows how to fix this problem?

And i don't want those manufacturers to make it. If everything is made here in this country without any machines or anything, it might develop some kind of prestige.

[Senyth]

Bare with me as I don't know your situation in details. But I would think that do to your aunt doing this for what seems to be a good while she should have some contacts\friends that she trust in their quality of work. Maybe your aunt can talk to them and just present the idea that she's opening a business and that if the orders pick up that she might need some help. At least her contacts\friends can giver her a ball park figure as to how much they will charge them, your aunt does this so she should know what's a fair price to pay them. Again, I don't know how that industry work so I don't know if you would pay those people on an hourly basis or per item they create.

Like that you keep it "in-house" but are still somewhat prepared in case the orders are too much for your aunt to handle, the last thing you want is your site having a bad reputation about orders not being filled.

Good luck to you and your aunt.

[Moneymaka]

She doesn't have friends that do the same job or have the same experience she has, but i'll ask her if she could find someone where's she's working.

and thank you.

[Neriahshouse]

I am a pesonal stylist and aspiring brand owner myself, so what i can do for you is offer my services as far as logo apparel goes. I can design up some tshirts or professional looking caps or attire just to get people noticing your line name and then promotion will do its thing an u can take it from there! Reply soon!!! Hope to work with u!

[nate_f2]

The fashion industry is something I can relate to. Since you want to start the business small and it might stay relatively small for some time dont waste your money on a website because no one will bother buying stuff online especially from a business they are not familiar with. Your best bet starting out is setting up a booth locally (for free if possible) at some kind of local event or flea market. Or do what Im going to do for my clothing line SALE OUT OF THE TRUNK haha. Well hand made clothing is gonna generate business from loyal locals. Flea markets, downtown business walks or park festivals should be the key to getting exposure, then after that let the money fall like leaves out a tree. Once the ball gets moving and orders are high your sure to find a young college student who has a passion for fashion and is eager to learn your aunts expertise.

[Moneymaka]

No sorry, it's not what i'm looking for

@nate, i really thought the chances of someone buying the clothes on internet was much higher?
Plus, i'm not going to sell clothing that take 3-5 days to make in flea markets.

[nate_f2]

Having a website would typically help you sell some stuff but not much. Your locals are going to be your foundation, you need to figure out how to get local consumers. Clothing is all about self expression and if people can relate to your aunt or others they see wearing her clothes then that triggers them to buy. Clothes dont sell on the internet unless 1. they are really really cheap 2. they are a very very popular brand. I wish I could see your aunts clothing because she might be making stuff that is really creative and fashionable but generally no name brands dont sell well on the net unless its mass marketed. Just trying to help so let me know if you have any other thoughts

[Moneymaka]

There are so many people on the web buying clothes, i find it hard to believe that they all want cheap and/or popular branded clothing.

When we start selling the clothes it will be branded.

[Moneymaka]

So any suggestions on how i should start?
How did the popular brands start?
Do they make their clothes in their own country or do they just send it to some 3rd world country to make it cheap?

Someone know if there's an ebook or website with lots of information on this?
I've searched on google but they never go into detail, just the basic steps that are needed to start the business.

[yourhostingspot.com]

Hi "Moneymaka" I've been in the fashion industry for a long time now and I'm the sole owner of Wilbs Shoes. I understand exactly where you stand and your operations. It really is a great way to start. Don't even think about "Growing to quickly" if that does happen, you'll figure it out. Don't go overseas, like you said, its not your company image or strategy. Keep with what you have, if you need more help, there are plenty of seamstresses all over willing to work for piece rate.
What you need to do is:
1) Have your aunt put together a few pieces
2) She Already has one shop she supplies to, so you (and her) can just walk right into other mom & pop clothing stores with a few pieces and start your sales pitch. It's free, and it works. Focus on the local aspect of your company. Mom and pop shops love that.
3) A website is a good idea. People may see the clothing in the stores and want to find out more information. With the right image, people will purchase over the internet.
4) let stores and internet customers know that everything is hand made and in whatever country you are in. Then add that the pieces are hand made as the orders come in, so please allow four days for your garment to be made.
5) Lastly, once you have a few stores under your belt and some capital from those stores, look for local or even national (Depending on how things are going) tradeshows. Either garment, or industry (Depending on your chosen target market)

Let me know if you have any other questions.
-Tom Wrinn

[r_p]

So any suggestions on how i should start?
How did the popular brands start?
Do they make their clothes in their own country or do they just send it to some 3rd world country to make it cheap?

i suggest some basic research of current fashion labels, research in the industry makes your product compeitive.

it is best to manfacture locally, and then expand internationally. but it could also be resource wise, but once again you need a parnter/contact.

[KevinH.]

Chinese Fabric Market